Nearly 2,000 neo-Nazis attended Germany’s largest right-wing rock festival on Saturday, which drew several hundred counter-protesters.
Police said that up to Saturday night 55 criminal offenses and minor infractions had been registered at the event in the town of Themar, located in Thuringia in central Germany. In 33 cases criminal proceedings were opened for the use of anti-constitutional symbols, including the swastika and Hitler salute, which are illegal in Germany. On Friday one photojournalist was attacked.The two-day rock concert, which goes into Sunday night, is the largest right-wing extremist rock festival in Germany. Last year it drew nearly 6,000 people. Around 300 counter-demonstrators gathered near the rock concert grounds. Politicians from the Social Democrats and the Greens were among those joining counter-demonstrations.
Counter-demonstrators unfurled banners reading “Nazis out” and “Your ideology kills.”
They also placed 20 white crosses into the ground near the rock festival site to symbolize the victims of neo-Nazi violence. Since 1990, 193 people have been killed in right-wing violence.
The courts allowed the event and even undid a strict alcohol ban.
Right-wing extremist rock concerts are often registered as political events and are therefore protected under the constitution.
Figures from the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) attended and spoke at the event.
HOPE not hate exposes the individuals behind the disturbances and their links to far-right organisations and longstanding anti-migrant campaigns. The week of 29 July to…
